


Late Autumn Leaves

by MothMckrakken



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Ichihime - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:22:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6628990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MothMckrakken/pseuds/MothMckrakken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Orihime is distracted from her studies by more than just her daydreams.</p><p>A story based on my <a href="http://mothmckrakken.tumblr.com/post/135713291058/merry-christmas-psui-have-some-study-buddies">Bleach Secret Santa drawing</a> for <a href="http://heliiodor.tumblr.com/">Heliiodor </a> on tumblr :)<br/>I finally got around to finishing it! Hope you like part 2 of your present! :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late Autumn Leaves

Late autumn leaves chased each other outside, crisp and curled in shades of burnt caramel, fluttering indecisively round the trunk of the tree they’d fallen from as if afraid to venture too far away from it. Orihime absent-mindedly flicked a page of her book between her fingers, the thin paper mimicking the sort of noise the leaves might have been making whilst being tossed around by that wind in the world beyond the window pane.

She caught herself and let the page fall from her hand, hoping she hadn’t been irritating anyone with the rustling. The library was quiet today, in the normal sense, yes, but also in terms of the lack of people who would usually be bustling amongst the book shelves or seated at the desks and computers, giving the place some life. It felt odd, but Orihime knew most students would be spending the winter break with their families, not out studying, so it was only natural that she would be one of the only ones here.

Concentration was something of a challenge; the words in her books too frequently rearranged themselves into the form of daydreams. Snacks tended to help her focus but she had a feeling she had already eaten all that she’d brought with her…she decided to check anyway. Leaning down to rummage in her bag, she heard the library door open, the invading wind stirring the pages of the book she had open and the sound filling her mind once again with the image of those restless leaves circling the tree trunk. Her fingers brushed past crumpled paper, loose pencils, pencil shavings and a dishevelled tissue, but little else, so with a sigh she straightened up again empty handed.

She shivered and hugged her jumper closer to her, that draught had cooled the room some. She wondered if it would rain later, she hadn’t brought an umbrella with her…with a small smile she found herself wondering if Santen Kesshun could be used above her head to repel the rain...a sudden familiar scent brought her back to the library with a jolt and made her stiffen in her seat.

“Inoue?” she spun around and found him standing right behind her, a bag slung over one shoulder and hands tucked into his jeans pockets, looking down at her in surprise.

“K-Kurosaki-kun!” she spluttered in disbelief.

“Hey, didn’t expect to see anyone here today. You studying?” he asked, glancing over at the open book on the desk in front of her. Desperately attempting to recover from her flustered state, Orihime quickly nodded.

“Well, ah, trying to anyway! I have trouble focusing sometimes! And I’m all out of snacks, ahaha!” she knew she was descending into babbling but to her relief Ichigo didn’t seem to notice, he was frowning over her notes.

“Is this science?” he stepped forward, placing one hand on the desk as he leaned down to examine the pages of her book.

“Yes,” she replied quietly, unable to drag her eyes away from his face as it drew level with her own.

“Yeah, I can never stay focused on this stuff for long either. I was just going over these chapters at home, but with my family around focusing is rarely an option,” he sighed, “and, well, with Kon in my room it’s just impossible.” His eyes flicked over to hers. “Do you want to go over this together? Or would you rather-”

“Yes!” He blinked in surprise to her fast, and loud, response and she quickly added, “A-ah, yes, thank you Kurosaki-kun, I think it would help to revise it alongside someone else.” Ichigo smiled and pulled out the chair next to her, sliding his bag onto the floor while Orihime turned to the first page of the chapter of her science book, trying not to look as nervous as she felt. As he took off his jacket she felt the wintery cool from outside that had been clinging to the fabric drift over to her, a combination of fresh air and Ichigo’s own scent.

“So, have you started the questions yet?” he asked, turning to her.

“Mm-hmm,” Orihime nodded firmly in confirmation without looking in his direction, still flipping the pages with determination. She was going to banish any thoughts that were not to do with schoolwork and revise with Ichigo sensibly, a situation completely devoid of embarrassing moments. Just two school-friends hanging out! As friends! Seated rather closely together! But that was ok! Everything would be fi-

“Oh, Inoue, you just skipped the page with our questions on it,” Ichigo said, reaching out his hand to stop the flow of pages. His fingers touched hers as he leafed back a couple of sheets and smoothed out the one they needed. _Don’t look at him_ she chanted furiously in her head as her face burned. He was angled casually towards her now, his finger tracing the page for some question or other, she was aware that he was saying something about it but her brain was too muddled to make any sense of his words when they were this close to her ear.

“…but that’s just my take on it. What do you think?” Orihime blinked at the book in a panic.

“Oh! Um…sorry, which one did you mean?” she felt so stupid. Normally she could fly through science homework, yet here she was making herself look utterly incompetent.

“This one here,” Ichigo replied moving forward to point at just the same time that Orihime decided to show interest by leaning towards the book, thus resulting in an abrupt collision.

“Shit! Sorry!” Ichigo swore loudly as they darted away from each other, clutching their heads. “Are you ok?!” A librarian hidden somewhere nearby made a “shushing” sound.

“Yes! Yes, I’m fine! Sorry,” Orihime was quick to reassure him. Her head was fine, sure. Her pride? Not so much.

It was the first time she had allowed herself to look at him since he sat down and to her surprise she found his face as red as hers felt. She took in his wide eyes, knotted eyebrows, her own frantic heartbeat, both of their hands massaging their crowns, and suddenly she felt…highly amused. It was when she caught the eye of the librarian peeking round a bookshelf at them that she couldn’t stop herself from spluttering with laughter. Ichigo watched her with some confusion.

“What?” he asked, a smile beginning to relax his own features in response to her attempts to stifle her mirth. The librarian, however, was failing to see the humour in the situation. Despite the fact that they were the only two people in that section of the library, he marched over to them and firmly requested that they either quieten down or leave. Unfortunately Orihime was still laughing quite uncontrollably behind her hands and, as all good laughter should be, it was proving to be contagious to her companion.

 

* * *

 

“Oh god, I’m sorry, I got us thrown out” Orihime gasped, her giggles dying down as they stepped through the doors.

“Oh, was that your first time getting thrown out of the library?” Ichigo asked her with raised eyebrows, stretching his arms above his head. “Don't worry about it, it’s kind of a regular thing for me. Once that librarian recognised me we were goners, so I’ll take half the blame.” Any shame Orihime had been feeling dissolved and a warm happiness fizzed up in it’s place as she returned his smile.

“So, where should we get kicked out of next?” He asked cheerfully, slipping his hands into his pockets. Her heart gave a little skip of joy at that, she had expected them to be going their separate ways as usual, but it sounded like he wanted to spend more time with her…

“Ah! Th-there’s a great tea-shop down the road! We could revise there, if you like,” She proposed, somehow managing to speak both shyly and at volume simultaneously.

“Nice,” Ichigo said, beginning to walk in the direction she had gestured, “We’ll be able to focus once we’ve had a snack, right?”

“Exactly!” she agreed with enthusiasm. As they walked on, a couple of raindrops began to fall. Ichigo frowned up at the sky.

“Damn, I didn’t bring my umbrella.” Orihime was quiet for a second, but then turned to him.

“Say, Kurosaki-kun...Santen Kesshun repels things, right? Well…do you think that, theoretically, if I aimed it above my head…” A look of realisation lit up Ichigo’s face.

“It would repel the rain!” he exclaimed. Orihime beamed at him excitedly.

“Do you think it would work?” Ichigo checked up and down the empty street before grinning at her.

“Worth a try, right?”

 

Late autumn leaves danced with each other through the air, crisp and curled and flying freely in the rich amber rays of the setting sun.

**Author's Note:**

> Since Ichigo once planned to tackle a Menos Grande by chopping away at it's feet till he could reach it's head, I reckon he'd be pretty open to a Santen Kesshun umbrella idea. I kind of feel that he and Orihime have a similar trait in the way they think out of the box :)


End file.
